2009-01-08 23:08:04 | Tom writes:

Originally published in Unique Cars issue #231 (Australia) 2003
Words: Michael Browning
Pics: Guy Bowden

www.carpoint.com.au/Tig/Minisite/Minisite.aspx


Sunday morning, Montacute Road, Adelaide. Not a place you'd expect to find your knees trembling and those tiny hairs on the back of your neck standing to attention. But it's happening and it's not just happening to me. Other jaws are slack and eyes fixed.
I heard and felt it coming before its flowing metallic blue bodywork introduced itself as one of the most beautiful and captivating of all cars built in the past 118 years. Genuine D-Type Jaguars are delightfully rare enough to make a pilgrimage to a distant historic race meeting worthwhile; to see one unleashed on an Adelaide public road, flashing past the Stobie Poles, tin fences and stone facades takes your breath away.
Louis Sellyei's Jaguar D-Type chassis XKD504 was a factory long-nose D-Type, which was prepared for Le Mans in 1956 and was later raced by the Scottish Ecurie Ecosse team.
To see it and two other genuine racing Jaguars - a 1953 C-Type and a 1959 Lister Jaguar - at large on Adelaide roads during last November's Classic Adelaide Rally was a rare privilege enjoyed by few enthusiasts anywhere else in the world.
What separated the new D-Type from it's the C-Type was its monocoque type chassis, attached to which was the front sub frame, carrying the engine and front suspension. On the six cars built in 1954, the sub frame was welded to the monocoque; on later cars it was bolted on for easy detachment.
Again Jaguar relied on the XK engine, but some modifications were made to limit frontal area. The oil reservoir was halved in height by switching from wet to dry-sump lubrication and the engine was inclined eight degrees from vertical, requiring an off-centre bump in the bonnet.
Mechanically, the only difference between the 1954 and 1955 works cars was the use of larger valves on the latter. Although extra space was required to house the larger valves, frontal area was not sacrificed as the 1955 'works' D-Types were the first Jaguars to use an asymmetrical head that would come to be known as the '35/40 head'. In this head, the intake valves were mounted at 35 degrees, whereas the exhaust valves were mounted at 40 degrees.
The small frontal area paid big dividends on the long Le Mans straights. To ensure stability at speeds of over 250km/h the D-Type was equipped with a large fish-like dorsal fin behind the pilot's headrest. The factory cars built in 1955 were equipped with a longer nose to allow an even higher top speed.
Jaguar entered four cars in the 1954 Le Mans 24 Hours, including the prototype. Although the Jaguars were clearly on the pace, they couldn't match the 4.9-litre Ferrari of Gonzales/Trintignant and victory eluded them.
In 1955 Jaguar returned with the large valve-engined, long nose D-Types to take the marque's third victory. Unfortunately the race was overshadowed by the worst accident in motor sport's history, when a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR crashed into a grandstand crowd, taking the life of driver Pierre Levegh and over 80 spectators. Although the race continued, Mercedes-Benz withdrew its cars, when news of the deaths broke.

Real thing
Dr Louis Sellyei's ex-Ecurie Ecosse car - chassis XKD504 - is a factory long-nose D-Type. It was prepared for Le Mans in 1956 but was kept as a reserve car for the event and did not race.
When the factory announced its retirement from racing later that year, the car was sold to Ecurie Ecosse team and its first race for the Scottish team was in May 1957 at the Spa 1000km race, driven by Jock Lawrence.
It raced throughout that year at Nurburgring, St Etienne and the famous Monzanapolis race, where the American's oval track specialists came to Monza with their Offenhauser engined roadsters to race against the European Grand Prix cars.
The factories were not keen to race against the brash Americans. However David Murray of Ecurie Ecosse boldly entered three of his D-Type Jaguars to give the Americans a run for their money.
With their four speed gearboxes they led in the opening laps until the two speed Indycars got up to speed and then they flew into the lead. Despite being beaten, Murray was praised in the US for racing against the Americans when the European GP teams did not take up the challenge.
XKD504 stayed in Ecosse hands in 1958 and ran at Sebring, Silverstone,
Nurburgring, Le Mans and finally at the Goodwood TT, where it finished fourth with Innes Ireland and Masten Gregory driving.
The car was then sold to Jaguar enthusiast Mike Salmon who changed its colour from the Ecosse Flag Metallic Blue to British Racing Green.
In 1962 it was sold to Peter Sutcliffe and in 1963 it crashed heavily at Snetterton in the UK and was sent back to Jaguar who replaced the sub-frame with that of XKD505.
The car was sold to Neil Corner and then to Paul Vestey, who had a new frame built for it, the earlier frame from XKD505 was sold to Bill Lake who rebuilt 505. In 1994 the original sub-frame of 504 was purchased and refitted by Paul Vestey so that the car today carries its original sub frame.
The car was in turn sold to American enthusiast John McCaw who on-sold the car to Sellyei around the end of 2002.
XKD504 raced in the Shannons Phillip Island Classic historic meeting in 2003 and was entered to compete again at the 2004 meeting as this article went to press.

2009-04-13 20:44:47 | pauls writes:

The car is mentioned in the book "Jaguar D Type & XKSS" by Graham Robson as one of 5 "works team cars" XKD504-XKD508. All with bolt on frames, long nose all built by June '55.

2012-09-16 21:05:13 | pauls writes:

Car can be seen in the following "Victory by Design" video:
www.youtube.com/watch

2013-08-29 13:55:09 | pauls writes:

Car to be at auction 9/13
www.rmauctions.com/lots/lot.cfm

Auction description:
London
08 - 09 September 2013
From the Laidlaw Competition Car Collection
Lot 250
1955 Jaguar D-Type
To be auctioned on Monday, September 9, 2013
£5,500,000 - £6,500,000

Chassis no. XKD 504
Engine no. E 4001-10

2013-09-09 21:32:18 | pauls writes:

Additional description from above auction:
The Works long-nose racers, such as the example offered today, were equipped with a wide wraparound windscreen that faired into the driver's headrest, which itself was enhanced with a smoothly tapered fin that gracefully blended into the rear of the body. These body modifications by Sayer were intended to give improved penetration and stability, as well as better driver protection for the faster sections of the circuit, where speeds reached well in excess of 180 mph, which was incredible for 1955. The modified cockpit also gave the driver more elbow room and, therefore, a little more comfort, which was essential for endurance racing. Extensive cylinder head modifications increased power to 285 brake horsepower at 5,750 rpm for the Works cars.

The subject of this sale, XKD 504, was used as a test car for the prototype fuel-injection system, and it was subject to numerous engine changes whilst being run by the Works team. It was the spare car for the 1955 Le Mans race, which was the year of the worst accident in motor racing history, resulting in the withdrawal of the entire Mercedes-Benz team. Mike Hawthorn and Ivor Bueb, in XKD 505, went on to win that ill-fated race.

XKD 504 went on to race in British racing green livery, wearing the Works trade plate number '164 WK', at Silverstone in May 1956, with Jack Fairman at the wheel, and it then went on to the awe-inspiring Nürburgring 1000 km, where Frere and Hamilton was the driver pairing.

Jaguar built some 67 D-Types between 1955 and 1956. In their final year of production, and despite mixed results in European competition, the factory D-Types finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at Reims, where the overall winner, Duncan Hamilton, set a new lap record, after ignoring repeated pit signals that urged him to slow down.

At Le Mans in 1956, the final year for the factory sports-racing team, and overcoming the bad luck that plagued the Works cars, leading privateer Ecurie Ecosse won the race. The team repeated that feat again in 1957, for a remarkable D-Type racing "hat trick". The Scottish stable, founded by Edinburgh accountant David Murray, was one of the most successful privateer racing teams in history, and XKD 504 joined their competition line-up in October 1956.

For two years, the car was regularly campaigned by Ecurie Ecosse throughout Europe, sporting the Scuderia's striking colours of Flag metallic blue with three white nose bands. XKD 504 ran at Spa and St. Etienne in the hands of Jock Lawrence, who claimed 2nd in the latter and finished 6th in the famous "Monzanapolis" event of 1957 at the Monza banked circuit, with Ninian Sanderson at the wheel. At the end of the 1957 season, following the tragic accident on the Mille Miglia, an FIA rule change to a 3.0-litre requirement ended the D-Type's racing dominance.

However, in 1958, XKD 504 returned to Le Mans with a three-litre engine (number E 4007-10), wearing race number 7, and being driven by John Lawrence and Ninian Sanderson, but regrettably, it DNF. For its final Ecurie Ecosse outing, Masten Gregory and Innes Ireland competed at the Goodwood Tourist Trophy of 1958, where XKD 504 finished 4th.

In addition to the great success achieved in Europe, it should be noted that D-Types also competed very successfully in North America, with Briggs Cunningham's cars winning at Watkins Glen three years in a row from 1955 to 1957.

XKD 504 continued its racing career in the hands of Mike Salmon, who won the Snetterton three-hour race in 1961, before being campaigned by legendary British privateer Peter Sutcliffe, whose virtuoso performances earned him the right to drive a Lightweight E-Type. Sutcliffe continued to race the car until an accident at Snetterton in 1963 (documented in Andrew Whyte's Jaguar: Sports Racing and Works Competition Cars from 1954) ended its contemporary racing career. During the rebuild at the Jaguar factory, it was decided that the damaged front sub-frame would be replaced, as would have been normal practice in period. Jaguar already had the sub-frame from the 1955 Le Mans winner, XKD 505, which was available and fitted to 504.

Peter Sutcliffe recently recalled that 504 "was probably the best car I ever had".

"My grandmother died and left me a small bequest, and it was sufficient to buy the D-Type from Michael [Mike Salmon]. I paid him £1,750 for it!! I raced it for just over a year, but I had a crash at Snetterton, and it had to be sent back to the factory for repairs. I found I needed some money, so I brought the D-Type back from Browns Lane to Huddersfield in the back of my lorry and offered it for sale. I then had a call from Neil Corner, who came down to see the car with his wife Freda. I opened the side door of the transporter and showed Neil the nearside wheel and bodywork and Neil agreed to buy it".

Neil Corner continues:

The first historic race for historic sports cars was at Castle Coombe, and it was run under the Griffiths formula and master minded by photographer Guy Griffiths in May 1966, which we were fortunate to win. This was the first of many after buying the car from my mate Peter Sutcliffe in April of that year. I really learned my trade driving this car, and it was fabulous in the wet too! Freda often came with me as passenger. Race preparation consisted of removing the R5 plugs and inserting R3s and checking the tyre pressures. Great Days!

I remember one great occasion when my mate Colin Crabbe, who owned Project 214 at the time, and I drove in convoy from Durham to Silverstone. It was the last day before the 70 mph speed limit came into force and the M1 ended at Lutterworth, so we blasted flat out down the motorway at about 160 mph before turning-off for Towcester!

We won races at both Silverstone club and grand prix circuits, Oulton Park, Crystal Palace, Castle Coombe, and Brands Hatch, and most remarkably, we were at the 1968 BRDC Clubmans Championships on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, where we equalled Mike Hawthorn's lap record in his Works long-nose.

In 1981, Corner sold XKD 504 to another well-known British collector and historic racer, Sir Paul Vestey. He elected to fully restore his new car at leading specialists Lynx Engineering, at which point the decision was taken to remove the sub-frame from XKD 505 and fit a replacement sub-frame to 504. In 1994, it became known that Sutcliffe had kept the original, damaged sub-frame, and it was then repaired and re-united with the car, returning XKD 504 to its correct, original state. After Vestey sold the car, it passed through two enthusiastic American vintage racers, Dr Lou Sellyei and John McCaw, before being acquired and brought back to the UK by Scottish enthusiast and historic racer Lord Laidlaw in October 2010.

As a recent addition to the Laidlaw competition stable, it was dispatched to the specialists at Classic Performance Engineering for a full pre-competition shakedown and entered for the RAC Woodcote Trophy for pre-1956 sports cars at Donington in 2011, where the pairing of Laidlaw and Hadfield was victorious. Laidlaw and Hadfield went on win the Woodcote Trophy at the Grand Prix L'Age d'Or in June of the same year.

Its tradition of fierce competition at the world's greatest venues in period, and being driven by notable drivers, continues to the present day. Noted Jaguar restorer Terry Larsen, who compiled the extensive racing history of XKD 504, which is available for inspection, recently stated that he believes XKD 504 "has the most races of any other D-Type".

Bearing its original Edinburgh registration, 'RSF 302', issued in January 1958, XKD 504 has been owned and raced by a highly respected list of former keepers, and it is a car of wonderful provenance. It has been maintained in impeccable race-prepared condition by Simon Hadfield Motorsport, and it is proudly presented in its distinctive Ecurie Ecosse team livery. XKD 504 is fitted with a wide-angle, 3.8-litre engine, number E 4001-10, and it is documented with a current MSA Historic Technical Passport in its 3.8-litre configuration. Its extensive history file includes copies of the 1958 Le Mans entry and scrutineering forms, amongst a host of other documentation.

This superb ex-Works long-nose D-Type Jaguar is unquestionably one of the most significant and iconic historic competition cars extant. The new owner, should he or she choose to race it, will enjoy a world of competition and, undoubtedly, much silverware in the process. The opportunity of achieving 180 mph on the Mulsanne Straight is an experience not to be missed, and certainly one that will never be forgotten.

2014-07-31 14:59:12 | pauls writes:

Lot 250, not sold high bid £4,000,000.

2016-04-26 13:46:45 | Derek Marshburn writes:

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